Expedia and Goldcar standoff

A_LONG_WAY_FROM_HOME

My family recently took a trip to France where we would be staying some distance from Marseille airport and therefore booked a hire car in advance.  Unfortunately, the Ryanair flight was delayed leaving Bristol by an hour and forty minutes.  To make sure that the hire company new I would be delayed, I phoned the contact number given to me by Expedia.  The automated message informed me that their offices were closed at weekends and that I should ring back during the week.  Pardon!  Once we arrived at Marseille airport, I immediately located Goldcar's office.  It was closed and there was no automated key collection facility. 

The only thing I could do was to hire a car from another (open) car rental firm at an extortionate cost, and return the next day to get my original hire car.  Or so I thought.  On returning to the airport the next day and queueing to see a Goldcar representative, I was informed that because I did not collect the car within six hours of the agreed collection time, they had cancelled the booking, with no refund.  I complained that, for most of those six hours, they were closed.  Had they been open, I would have been able to collect the hire car.  They were having none of it.  I had to create a whole new booking, at another eye-watering rate.  They didn't even offer a discount, even though I had already paid the full price.

Expedia say they have contacted Goldcar, and they are unwilling to offer a refund.  Surely, there should be some compensation due.  If anyone knows if there is an ombudsman that deals with this sort of complaint or can offer any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

Just to make matters worse, the Ryanair flight on the way back was also delayed by an hour and a half.    

MyRealNameToo

There is no Car Hire ombudsman in the UK and even if there were its unlikely it would look at overseas firms.

Can't comment on if there is one in France and even if there is if its scope deals with booking made from overseas by a non-national or not. 

Personally always check what the opening hours are for a firm and what their out of hours options are. If a 2-3 hours delay would mean missing their operating hours I wouldnt book them 

jimi_man

Goldcar seem to get a lot of bad reviews. Personally I’d book a car from one of the other more reputable firms - like the one that was open when you got there. 

jbrassy

This forum is littered with horror stories about Goldcar. It's too late now, but always book with established car hire companies (Avis / Budget, Hertz / Thrifty / Dollar, Sixt, Enterprise / Alamo, Europcar / Keddy). You will pay more, but the customer experience will be a lot better. Just make sure you have third party excess insurance as well.

brianposter

You need to investigate the phone number that you were given by Expedia. If it is not adequate you may be able to claim from Expedia.

MyRealNameToo

jbrassy said:

This forum is littered with horror stories about Goldcar. It's too late now, but always book with established car hire companies (Avis / Budget, Hertz / Thrifty / Dollar, Sixt, Enterprise / Alamo, Europcar / Keddy). You will pay more, but the customer experience will be a lot better. Just make sure you have third party excess insurance as well.

Some of your "established" firms are actually franchises in some countries and therefore inevitably are more variable than when it's owned and operated by the firm itself. 

Goldcar was founded in 1985 so would argue its fairly "established" after 40 years of trading. 

jbrassy

MyRealNameToo said:

jbrassy said:

This forum is littered with horror stories about Goldcar. It's too late now, but always book with established car hire companies (Avis / Budget, Hertz / Thrifty / Dollar, Sixt, Enterprise / Alamo, Europcar / Keddy). You will pay more, but the customer experience will be a lot better. Just make sure you have third party excess insurance as well.

Some of your "established" firms are actually franchises in some countries and therefore inevitably are more variable than when it's owned and operated by the firm itself. 

Goldcar was founded in 1985 so would argue its fairly "established" after 40 years of trading. 

Two points:
1 - this forum and the Internet in general is littered with red flags about Goldcar. Excuse the pun, but I would steer well clear of them.
2 - even if for example Hertz is operated as a franchise in some countries, they will have a service agreement with the parent company to ensure a level of service is maintained. If a franchisee is performing poorly in one country, the head company could threaten to withdraw the franchise. 

Ultimately, I've never had any issues with the companies I listed and I have rented with them in lots of countries where I'm sure franchises are operated. Just make sure you have appropriate excess insurance and you shouldn't have any worries.

MyRealNameToo

Not defending them, wouldnt hire from them either, just pointing out that they are "established" by most peoples consideration. 

Similarly saying Hertz is more variable when a franchisee than when company owned/operated isnt saying they become the wildwest. I've never had problems but I dont hire often but there are others here who've had problems with the bigger names and other posters have commented that it happens to be a franchise which could have contributed to the why.